Abul Wafa Sanaullah Amritsari (12 June 1868 – 15 March 1948) was a

British Indian British Indians are citizens of the United Kingdom (UK) whose ancestral roots are from India. Currently, the British Indian population exceeds 2 million people in the UK, making them the single largest Ethnic groups in the United Kingdo ...

, later

Pakistani Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

scholar and a leading figure within the

Ahl-e-Hadith Ahl-i-Hadith or Ahl-e-Hadith (, ''people of hadith'') is a Salafi reform movement that emerged in North India in the mid-nineteenth century from the teachings of Sayyid Ahmad Shahid, Syed Nazeer Husain and Nawab Siddiq Hasan Khan. It is an ...

movement who was active in the city of

Amritsar Amritsar, also known as Ambarsar, is the second-List of cities in Punjab, India by population, largest city in the India, Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab, after Ludhiana. Located in the Majha region, it is a major cultural, transportatio ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

. He was an alumnus of

Mazahir Uloom Mazahir Uloom (also known as Mazahir Uloom Waqf Qadeem) is an Islamic seminary located in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Started in November 1866 by Saadat Ali Faqih, and developed further by Mazhar Nanautawi and Ahmad Ali Saharanpuri; it is reg ...

and the

Darul Uloom Deoband Darul Uloom Deoband is an Islamic university and seminary ( darul uloom) in Deoband, Uttar Pradesh, India, at which the Sunni Deobandi Islamic movement began. Established in 1866 by Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi, Fazlur Rahman Usmani, Sayy ...

. He was a major

antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the main enemy or rival of the protagonist and is often depicted as a villain.Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (13 February 1835 – 26 May 1908) was an Indian religious leader and the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement in Islam. He claimed to have been divinely appointed as the promised Messiah and '' Mahdī'', in fulfillment of th ...

and the early

Ahmadiya Ahmadiyya, officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ), is an Islamic messianic movement originating in British India in the late 19th century. It was founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908), who said he had been divinely appointed a ...

movement. He served as the general secretary of the All India Jamiat-i-Ahl-i-Hadith from 1906 to 1947 and was the editor of the ''Ahl-e-Hadees'', a weekly magazine.

Biography

Sanaullah Amritsari's ancestors hailed from

Doru Shahabad Dooru Shahabad is a town and the headquarters of the Dooru tehsil in the Anantnag District, Anantnag district of the Indian States and territories of India, union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir. It is also ...

, a town in

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory since 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered by India as a state from 1952 to 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (prin ...

. He was born in 1868 in Amritsar, where his father had settled permanently. He received his early education at Madrasa Ta'īd al-Islām in Amritsar, and later moved to

Wazirabad Wazirabad (Urdu/) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the administrative capital of Wazirabad District (formerly a Tehsil of Gujranwala District). Famous for its cutlery products, it is known as the city of cutlery and is also quite famous f ...

to study hadith under Abdul Mannan Wazirabadi. He then studied with Syed Nazir Hussain in Delhi. He joined

for higher education and thereafter completed his studies at

, where his teachers included

Mahmud Hasan Deobandi Mahmud Hasan Deobandi (also known as Shaykh al-Hind; 1851–1920) was an Indian Muslim scholar and an activist of the Indian independence movement, who co-founded the Jamia Millia Islamia University and launched the Silk Letter Movement for ...

. He had joined the Deoband seminary in 1890 to study logic, philosophy and Fiqh. He subsequently attended the lectures of Aḥmad Ḥasan at the Madrasa Faiz-e-Aam, in

Kanpur Kanpur (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), originally named Kanhapur and formerly anglicized as Cawnpore, is the second largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow. It was the primary ...

. Amritsari started his career with teaching at his alma mater Madrasa Ta'īd al-Islām in Amritsar, in 1893, and taught the books of

Dars-i Nizami Dars-i Nizami () is a study curriculum or system used in many Islamic institutions ( madrassas) and Darul Ulooms, which originated in the Indian subcontinent in the 18th century and can now also be found in parts of South Africa, Canada, the Unite ...

. He then became the director of education at the Madrasa Islamiyyah in

Maler Kotla The State of Malerkotla or Maler Kotla was a princely state of Afghan origin in the Punjab region established in the medieval era and lasting to the era of British India. It has been described as being a princely enclave. Its rulers belonged ...

. He subsequently stepped into polemics and began debating the proponents of

Arya Samaj Arya Samaj () is a monotheistic Indian Hindu reform movement that promotes values and practices based on the belief in the infallible authority of the Vedas. Dayananda Saraswati founded the samaj in the 1870s. Arya Samaj was the first Hindu ...

and specially Ahmadism. He established Ahl-e-Hadith Press in 1903 and published a weekly journal ''Ahl-e-Hadith'' which continued for about 44 years. He was a leading figure of the

movement and served as the general secretary of All India Jamiat-i-Ahl-Hadith from 1906 to 1947. He co-founded the

Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind or Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind ( ) is one of the leading organizations of Islamic scholars belonging to the Deobandi school of thought in India. It was founded in November 1919 by a group of Muslim scholars including Abdul Bari Fir ...

and had a rank of major general in Junud-e-Rabbania. He was president of Anjuman Ahl-e-Hadith Punjab. He was given the title ''Sher-e-Punjab'' for his services to Islam in Punjab. Amritsari migrated to

Gujranwala Gujranwala is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, fourth most-populous city in the Pakistani province of Punjab. Located in northern-central Punjab's Rachna Doab, it serves as the headquarters of its Gujranwala District, epony ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

after

Partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

in 1947 and died on 15 March 1948 in

Sargodha Sargodha (Punjabi language, Punjabi/; ; ) is a city and capital of Sargodha Division, located in Central Punjab, central Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan. It is Pakistan's List of most populous cities in Pakistan, 11th most populous city and ...

Literary works

Amritsari wrote pamphlets and books mostly in the refutation of

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (13 February 1835 – 26 May 1908) was an Indian religious leader and the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement in Islam. He claimed to have been divinely appointed as the promised Messiah and '' Mahdī'', in fulfillment of th ...

Syed Mehboob Rizwi Syed Mehboob Rizwi (1911–1979) was an Indian Sunni Islamic scholar, author and historian, best known for '' Tarikh Darul Uloom Deoband'', his two volume Urdu work on the history of Darul Uloom Deoband. Biography Syed Mehboob Rizwi was born i ...

has mentioned ''Tafsir al-Quran be-Kalam al-Rahman'', ''Tafsir-e-Sanai'' and ''Taqabul-e-Salasa'' as his important works. When

Rangila Rasul Rangila Rasul or Rangeela Rasool (: "These opening lines of the provocative Rangila Rasul he Colourful Prophet a slim volume published in 1924 in colonial north India, masqueraded as an innocuous ‘celebration’ of the ‘Prophet of Many Wiv ...

was written on Islamic prophet Muhammad, Sanaullah Amritsari wrote '' Muqaddas Rasool'' as a reply to that book. He also wrote the book " Haq Prakash" in answer to

Dayananda Saraswati Dayanand Saraswati () born Mool Shankar Tiwari (12 February 1824 – 30 October 1883), was a Hindu philosopher, social leader and founder of the Arya Samaj, a reform movement of Hinduism. His book '' Satyarth Prakash'' has remained one of th ...

's book "

Satyarth Prakash ''Satyarth Prakash'' (; '; ) is an 1875 book written originally in Hindi by Dayanand Saraswati, a religious and social reformer and the founder of Arya Samaj. The book was subsequently revised by Saraswati in 1882 and has been translated into mo ...

Legacy

* Faz̤lurraḥmān bin Muḥammad wrote ''Hazrat Maulana Sanaullah Amritsari''. * Abdul Majid Sohdri wrote ''Seerat Sanai''.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

Tafsir Sanai By Sanaullah Amritsari
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amritsari, Sanaullah 1868 births 1948 deaths Pakistani Salafis Atharis Pakistani Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam Quranic exegesis scholars Critics of Ahmadiyya Pakistani people of Kashmiri descent Darul Uloom Deoband alumni Students of Mahmud Hasan Deobandi Founders of Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind Ahl-i Hadith people Mazahir Uloom alumni Hinduism and Islam